How do you know what part of your lat is hurt – Andrew Cashner

The San Diego Padres starting pitcher, Andrew Cashner, hurt a lat in one of his starts. The lat is the Latissimus Dorsi and it is two large muscles in the back. It runs from under the shoulder blade to the waist. He hurt it while pitching, which is understandable since it is used extensively in baseball.

Cashner said of the injury:

I felt a little grab and then the third pitch, it grabbed even worse. It’s definitely sore right now.

This is understandable given the size of the muscles and their use in pitching.

[includeme file=”forthe.html”]

What I found fascinating is that the medical staff of the Padres were able to tell exactly what part of the muscle was hurt. Padres manager Bud Black said:

Our diagnosis from our medical staff is outstanding. We have a lat strain of some sort to some degree. Pretty low on the lat, not the shoulder though.

Fascinating.

How do you figure out what part of the lat is hurt?

It turns out that an examination can lead to a pretty accurate picture of Latissimus Dorsi injuries. The following YouTube video walks through the entire process:

The examination itself is revealing in the fact that the anchor points for the lat can indicate the damage and the specific location.